BBC Postpones iPhone App After Newspapers Feel Threatened

from the off-to-the-website dept

Back in February, we noted that UK newspapers (the same ones who are blocking aggregators and putting up paywalls) were getting angry that the BBC was going to release an iPhone app. Their complaint was that it was somehow unfair, since the BBC is publicly funded, even though all it was really doing was taking its website and formating it better for the iPhone. Unfortunately, it looks like the BBC has agreed to put the whole thing on hold while it explores the issue. This is really unfortunate. At the same time that UK newspapers are locking up their content, they're trying to force others to do the same as well. Of course, they don't seem to realize that this won't help them any. It certainly won't help their business model. As for the BBC... well, it'll be a bit more annoying, but I imagine most folks who want their BBC content will quickly open a browser and go straight to the website. But they won't suddenly agree to pay Rupert Murdoch to access his news.

Re:

The paywall

These newspapers that are putting up paywalls and making walled gardens aren't going to get a dime from me. For one, they don't offer anything that I am interested in. They are not local to me, so there isn't anything in them about my community that might interest me. The world and national levels seem to have very little that is original and certainly not enough quantity of original content to encourage me to pay.

What I see in this is a lack of value driven by an old model that is not trying to seek new avenues of income. Rather it appears to be entrenchment in hopes that it will become their bailout.

Maybe the locals will pay. Even if they do, I suspect there won't be enough of them to support those papers without massive downsizing.

Journalism LITE

If the newspapers can't provide value above and beyond what we can get from the publically funded BBC, then maybe they should quit trying to compete directly and look for related areas where they CAN make money.